Shedden Genealogy

SHEDDENS OF MARSHYLAND AND MORRISHILL

The attached genealogical chart shows the descendants of Robert, second son of John Shedden (The Elder) (bc1686). Two of these descendants, Robert (b 1789) and Alexander (b 1791), were in India for a time and probably in the employ of the East India Company. Robert was Lt Colonel commandant to the 39th Regiment Native Infantry and died unmarried at Vizianagram .

Robert Shedden (b 1789) was an uncle of John Shedden Dobie, born in Beith on 14 Feb 1819. He was an indefatigable traveller, visiting and living in countries as far apart as Australia, Gottland, USA, Hawaii and Africa. He can be found on the internet and, according to this, in Sept 1866, together with Henry and Fred Bucknell, he made the first of three treks between the Natal and the Queenston districts in the Eastern Cape to purchase sheep.

Alexander (b 1791) was admitted a Member of The Royal College of Surgeons in 1813 and was appointed assistant-surgeon to the 7th Madras Light Cavalry and in 1828 was appointed surgeon to the king's Army in the East Indies. He retuned to Scotland in 1832 to the family estate at Morrishil. On the death of his second wife, Martha Wilson, he succeeded to the estate of Willowyard. Jessie Caldwell, Alexander's daughter by his first wife, Jessie Glasgow Henderson, succeeded to the estates of Morrishill and Willowyard.

Janet (b 1759) was the youngest daughter of Robert (b 1709). She married James Scrimgeour (the founder of the stockbroker firm) in 1780. The Scrimgeours claimed to have the title of the Hereditary Standard Bearer of Scotland. This claim was denied in the court of claims for the coronation of Edward V11 but was confirmed in 1952 by the House of Lords (see web site "A Family History")

Margaret Shedden (b1792), younger sister of Robert and Alexander, married James Dobie, banker, who, in a memoir "Mr Wilson of Crummock", set out the conventional pedigree of the early Sheddens of Beith (see "Sheddens of Beith").Their son, John Shedden-Dobie (the above indefatigable traveller), in Appendix 111 to this memoir, set out an alternative pedigree to explain an apparent missing generation of Sheddens. In fact neither the conventional pedigree nor the alternative pedigree was correct and the missing generation depicted in the charts appears from a study of the dates of birth which were recorded in the parish register.